Minnelli's first film appearance was at the age of three in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime, starring her mother and Van Johnson. Minnelli started performing at age 16, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received good notices. The next year, her mother invited Minnelli to perform with her at the London Palladium. The audience loved her, launching her musical career. She returned to Broadway at 19, and won a 1965 Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace. Minnelli would also receive Tony Awards for The Act in 1978 and a special Tony in 1974. She was nominated in 1984 for The Rink but lost to her costar, Chita Rivera.
The film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), in which Minnelli starred as a love-seeking teenage misfit, garnered the young actress her first Academy Award nomination. In 1972, Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Sally Bowles in the movie version of Cabaret, along with Joel Grey who won an Oscar reprising his role from the original Broadway production (that of the Emcee).
Minnelli has the distinction of being one of the few Academy Award winners whose parents are both Academy Award nominees. She has also won an Emmy Award for the 1972 TV special Liza with a Z. Minnelli received a 1990 Grammy Legend Award. She received Golden Globe Awards for Cabaret and for the TV movie A Time to Live.
Minnelli, like her mother, is known for her powerful vocal style, as in her trademark songs "Cabaret" and "Theme from New York, New York". Minnelli's original version of the latter, for the film in which she was a co-star with Robert DeNiro, preceded Frank Sinatra's successful cover version (for his Trilogy album), by two years.
After her performance as leading lady to Dudley Moore in 1981's Arthur, Minnelli made fewer, and fewer successful, film appearances.
She returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley commented, "her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty... She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."
Following her 2002 wedding to David Gest, Minnelli and Gest signed with the American cable network VH1 to star in their own reality series, but production of the series was cancelled at the last minute.
In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring guest star on the critically acclaimed TV sitcom Arrested Development as the lover of sexually and socially awkward Buster Bluth.
On January 1, 2006, she sang "New York, New York" at the second inauguration of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Other famous performances were at the 1978 Studio 54 party honoring New York City's revival, at which a guest was Mayor Ed Koch; the reopening of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 1986; and at a 2001 New York Mets baseball game that was the metro area's first major sporting event after the September 11 attacks.
In 2013, she guest-starred on the NBC musical drama Smash, where she performed the number A Love Letter From the Times. She also reprised her role in the fourth season of Arrested Development.
Lazy Bones
Liza Minnelli Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How you 'xpect to get your day's work done?
Never get your day's work done
Sleepin' in the noon day sun
Now, lazy bones, sleepin' in the shade
How you expect to get your corn meal made?
You'll never get your corn meal made
When tainers need sprayin', I bet you keep prayin'
The bugs'll fall off the vine
And when you go fishin' I bet you keep wishin'
The fish won't grab your line
Now, lazy bones, loafin' through the day
How you 'xpect to make a dime that way?
You'll never make a dime that way
Never heard a word I say
Now when tainers need sprayin', I bet you keep prayin'
That the bugs'll fall off the vine
And when you go fishin' I bet you keep wishin'
That the cat fish drops your line
Lazy bones, loafin' through the day
How you 'xpect to get a dime that way?
You'll never make a dime that way
Now look here, never heard a word I say
In Liza Minnelli's song "Lazy Bones", the lyrics speak about a person who is constantly sleeping or lazing around, and as a result, they are unable to accomplish anything in their day. Minnelli sings about how this person is sleeping in the sun or shade and how they cannot expect to get any work done or make any money this way. The song speaks directly to this lazy individual, suggesting that they are not taking life seriously and are missing opportunities to succeed.
In the song's chorus, Minnelli suggests that the lazy bones are always praying for something to happen, such as the bugs falling off the vine while spraying or the fish not taking the bait while fishing. The song emphasizes the point that this person is not proactive and is hoping for things to happen without putting in any effort.
Line by Line Meaning
Lazy bones, sleepin' in the sun
How do you expect to be productive if you spend your time lying down in the sun?
How you 'xpect to get your day's work done?
If you don't put in the effort, you won't achieve anything.
Never get your day's work done
You will never achieve anything if you spend time sleeping during the day.
Sleepin' in the noon day sun
Laziness will prevent you from achieving your goals.
Now, lazy bones, sleepin' in the shade
If you spend your time relaxing, your tasks will never be completed.
How you expect to get your corn meal made?
You cannot achieve anything by being idle all the time.
You'll never get your corn meal made
Laziness will only prevent you from completing your tasks.
Just sleepin' in the evening shade
Being idle isn't the solution for getting things done.
When tainers need sprayin', I bet you keep prayin'
You avoid doing work and hope that someone else will do it for you.
The bugs'll fall off the vine
You hope that the problems at hand will just go away on their own.
And when you go fishin' I bet you keep wishin'
You waste time daydreaming instead of taking action.
The fish won't grab your line
You hope for things to happen without putting in the necessary effort.
Now, lazy bones, loafin' through the day
Being unproductive all day long won't bring you success.
How you 'xpect to make a dime that way?
You won't earn any money if you don't put in any effort.
Never heard a word I say
You refuse to listen to advice and continue to be unproductive.
Lazy bones, loafin' through the day
Being unproductive all day long won't bring you success.
Now look here, never heard a word I say
You ignore valuable advice and continue to be unproductive.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Songtrust Ave, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: HOAGY CARMICHAEL, JOHNNY MERCER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
V
on Ring them bells
Handsome señor